.H5 




Glass 



Book_±li 



SPEECH 






OF NEW YORK, 



RESTRICTION OF SLAVERY 

IN MISSOURI. 

HEIIVEBED is the HOISE of nEPnESEXTATIVES OF THE 
UyiTED STATES, JANUAIIT 25, 1820. 



Mr. Chairman : I assure the commiltee ihat I 
shall not detain them long by my observations 
upon this question ; nor should I now undertake 
to consume the fifteen or twenty minutes which I 
shall allot to myself, if it was not for the somewhat 
peculiar situation in which I am placed. 

It is well known, that the Legislature of the 
respectable state which I have the honor in part 
to represent, has requested the Representatives 
of that state, upon tliis floor, to vote for the re- 
striction upon Missouri now under consideration. 

I have examined attentively the mass of argu- 
ment which has been so laboriously accumulated 
on this question ; and never, perhaps, was there 
on any occasion so much exhausted as on this. 
But, sir, I freely own that I cannot, in conscience 
or judgment, consent to impose this i estriction 
upon Missouri. 

There is a wonderful singulaiity in the present 

controversy, which destroys all confidence in the 

weight and value of that process of mind which 

we so proudly dignify with the title of reasoning 

1 



■ .'7 s 

2 

Sir, I never yet knew that reason'-and logic were 
to be found on this side or that, of a parallel of 
latitude or longitude. What is the fact in this 
case ? Why, sir, the parallel of latitude of 39 
degrees almost precisely marks the division be- 
tween the reason and argument of the North and 
South. That line of demarkation separates the 
slave Iwlding from the non slave holding states. 
On the soutli side of that line we find the climate 
and soil adapted to slaves, and there are the 
slaves. On the north side of that line, we discov- 
er that the soil and climate require no slaves, 
and therefore few or no slaves are found. What, 
sir, is it possible, then, that one half of us can be 
rationally and argumentatively on one side of a 
parallel of latitude, and the other half of us upon 
the other ? I did believe that the tiuths of philo- 
sophy, that reason, that the principia of Newton 
were the same in every latitude, in every climate, 
and on every soil of this globe. Sir, there must 
be some mistake among us upon this occasion, 
and from the reflections which 1 have made, I 
think I caii point it out. 

It is now at least twenty years, that I have with 
some pain and apprehension, rersarked the in- 
creasing spirit of local and sectional envy and 
dislike between the North and South. A contin- 
ued series of sarcasm upon each other's circum- 
stances, modes of living, and manners, so foolish- 
ly persevered in, has produced at length, that 
keen controversy which now enlists us in masses 
against each other, on the opposite sides of a 
line of latitude. Gentlemen may dignify it by 
whatever titles they please They may flatter 
themselves that all is logic, reason, pure reason. 
But certain I ana, that it is neitlier more norless 
than sectional feeling. Feeling, sir, however 
gravely dignified, has brought us in hostility to 
this singular line of combat, and tve, who are, 
you know, sir, " but children of a larger growth," 
are now most aptly comparable to those celebrat- 
ed and eternal factions of Up Town and Down 
Town Boys I put this observation to every one 



who hears me, wiih the wish iluU he may apply 
his own recollections and reflections to it. Gen- 
tlemen may exhaust all their arguments, all their 
eloquence upon the question before us; they may 
pour out every flower of rhetoric upon il — but, 
sir, I view their labors as wholly vain, and I fear 
that their flowers will be found to be the most 
deleterious and most poisonous in the whole 
range of botany. They poison national affection. 
Reason divided by parallels of latitude ! Why, 
sir, it is easy for prejudice and malevolence, by 
aid of ingenuity, to erect ati eternal impenetrable 
wall of brass between tke north and south at tho 
latitude of thirty-nine degrees 1 But, in the view 
of reason, there is no other line between them 
than that celestial arc of ihhty-nine degrees 
which offers no barrier to the march of liberal 
and rational men. Is it forgotten that the en- 
lightened high priest, the arch-bisliop of one 
belligerent goes to the temple of the Almighty 
and chaunts " Te Deum laudanius," for the vic- 
tory obtained by his country, with carnage and 
devastation, over the enemy, while the arch- 
bishop of the other belligerent is at the same 
lime entering the house of God, and singing also 
" Te Deum laudainus pro victoria," upon the 
other side of the line, the creek, or tlie river? 
We who know these things should profit by our 
knowledge, learn liberality, and practise it It 
is true, and I glory in the knowledge of the truth, 
that in matters of religion this country has, in its 
constitutions, attained a high point of reason and 
liberality. Men, after forty or sixty centuries of 
religious intolerance, here, at last, may worship 
the Creator in their own way. What a privilege ! 
how dearly acquired ! how much to be prized I 
It fills us with astonishment, when we reflect how 
hard it is for us to refrain from forcing by power 
our opinions upon our brother men ! how readily 
each individual imagines that the light is alone 
in his own breast, and how enthusiastically he 
engages in propagating it among mankind by all 



possible means, fancying, dreaming that he is a 
prophet, a vice-gerent of Ahnighty God. 

Sir, we have been now for a long time occu- 
pied -in this debate, misspending our time and 
the public money. I feel well assured that the 
body of the people will judge our conduct right- 
ly. They are able critics! Yes, sir, even in 
matlei s of sublime art, even in those works which 
none can execute, all arc critics ! They deter- 
mine, at a glance of the eye, what is good and 
beautiful in architecture, in statuary, in painting, 
and, what is to them still more easy, what is 
good in governments and constitutions. They 
will soon ask us, what is the controversy about? 
Did you from motives of policy and regard for 
the welfare of the whites propose to remove the 
growing black race Irom this cuuntiy ? No. Did 
you, actuated by humane considerations for the 
unfortunate slaves, propose to redeem them from 
their bondage, and restore them to liberty and 
the land of their fathers? No. What then? 
Did you propose to draw such lines of restriction 
around the slave population as would ere long 
starve them out, and so prevent their becoming 
dangerous to the whites ? If you did. remember 
that such is the increasing kindness of the slave 
holdcisjso ameliorated the condition of the slave, 
that not one slave, not one child less will be born, 
and not one can die by starvation. Sir, the truth 
is,' that nothing has yet been proposed beneficial 
cither to the wliitc or black race in all this long- 
drawn debate, (iive me leave to say, sir, that 
this consideration induced me to introduce the 
resolution wliich now lies upon the table, devot- 
ing the public lands to the emancipation and co- 
lonization of the unfortunate slaves. If we want 
some object upon which to exhaust our enthusi- 
asm, here is one woi th it all. Not the subjuga- 
tion of a people, but the redemption of a nation. 
VVe are attempting here to legislate ior Mis- 
souri, without a due attention to the situation, the 
genius of the people, soil, climate, and all the 
matters which ought to constitute good law. 



The celebrated Montesquieu obtained great and 
deserved reputation by his essays upon L^Esprit 
des Loix. It is an admirable cliaracter of hu- 
man knowledge, one which had not been until his 
time tolerably known and not now well un<lerstood. 
Nothing is more difficult than to make good 
laws, such as will last long and wear well. We 
sir, with all our knowledge make a dozen for one 
which well answers its end or perlbnns itsoflice. 
All Lawyers know, and I pray the particular at- 
tention of the Lawyers of this house, how readily 
laws become as we term it obsolete, or as I would 
phrase it, (like the caps and dresses of the ladies,) 
become unj'asliionable, how often changed. It is 
necessary, says Montesquieu, to make laws ex- 
actly suitable, to tlie genius of the people, to the 
physical laws of climate. See. to the habits of a 
people, and to the very moment of time in which 
the law is made. A law made contrary to the 
genius and will of a people, to their climate, ha- 
bits, and circumstances, will never be executed, 
never was long maintained, and is for a law a mere 
absurdity. Also, if it is made out of time that is 
not suitable to the very time in which it is made, 
it will with the caprice of fashion speedily be- 
come unfashionable, or as the lawyers say 
obsolete. 

Sir, it is my intention only to point with an in- 
dex finger at the chapters which contain as, I be- 
lieve, the facts and the learning worth reading on 
this occasion, and by no means to read you the 
whole chapters themselves. 

I will now sir, point out another chapter which, 
in my judgment, contains much in relation to this 
comroversy. 

There is a class of politicians among us, with 
whom I have, at least in one respect, always dif- 
fered very widely indeed. This class always 
holds in doubt and apparent dread the extension 
of republican government. It has never been 
able to trust to the discretion and ability of the 
mass of the people in matters of self government, 
in constitution making ; from the time of the 



building of the celebrated narrow Saybrook Plat- 
form to this liour. It is, in spite of experience, 
in dread, of (svery new state and trembles at the. 
idea of a convention for the purpose of making a 
constitution ! Sir, I have had some acquaintance 
these twenty years with the good people of our 
country, south as well as north, from the man of 
the south with the rifle on his shoulder to the 
honest mechanics of the north, and I have acqui- 
red from this knowledge absolute confidence in 
the ability of all o" any of them to make a good 
republican constitution for the government of 
themselves. I believe there are three millions 
of the people of the United States that can make 
unexceptionable republican constitutions, who 
could not well put a patch upon a shoe ; and 
that nineteen out of twenty of our agricultural ci- 
tizens know better the art of constitution-making 
than the best methods of raising cabbages. This 
clf.ss of politicians believe implicitly in the doc- 
trine that men ai e not angels, that they are in- 
firm.. I agree with them, only differing from theni 
in this particular, that I believe that infirmity is 
extended to arid includes them and myself as well 
as the body of the people. 

So unbounded is the confidence which I have 
in these truths, that I have long felt the inspiring 
belief that our free republican systems of govern- 
ment will expand, until they cover and embrace 
this mighty northern conliuenl at least. 

lam surprised to hear Missouri sometimes 
spoken of as a child of ours ; we are her parents, 
sometimes a ward; we, the guardian, sometimes 
as a pupil. Why, sir, I sincerely believe that a 
man of forty years of age, in Missouri, is as old 
as any man of forty in the north. I cannot be- 
lieve that I, or any other man or men, are bet- 
ter capable of governing Missourians than they 
are of governing themselves ! They are no 
more children, or pupils, or wards, than we are. 

I have heard in argument not in this House, 
but elsewhere, and from high authority, that the 
power of Congress to admit new states was a uni- 
versalpropositionjcontaiiiing within it every possi- 



ble requisite ; power to admit, reject, motllfy, 
bargain with, or restrain new states Sir, it s 
an universal proposiiion of vast extent, that is, 
it does extend as wide as the uunosl breadth of 
good sense, and as long as the extreme length 
of justice, but not further. 

The application of this univeral proposition is 
st.ch as almost tempts me to nuike another. As, 
for instance, it is a universal proposiiion, tliat eve- 
ry instrument or tool in the hands of a man is a 
thing to work with. This penknife is an instru- 
ment or tool, therefore I can plough ground with 
it ! Congress have no power under this univer- 
sal proposition to make any law contrary to the 
Esprit des Luix, contrary to the genius and will 
of a people, to the laws of climate, or, at an im- 
proper time. Such attempts will be mere ab- 
surdities — violence will be committed upon the 
fundamental principles of all law, and can never 
be executed. 

Our free constitution was made by men who 
were wise enough to know the danger of section- 
al divisions. This constitution is no more than 
a profoundly wise agreement to differ, an agree- 
ment todifler in matters of small importance, in 
order that we might not agree to destroy eacho- 
ther in perpetual wars. If we, sir, shall be 
unhappily so unwise as to forget thi^, nothing will 
be left for us and our posterity, but awful com- 
bats at parallels of latitude, or physical lines ofde- 
markation. 

Sir, I feel no inclination for my part to exer- 
cise my small portion of legislative power where 
it is not called for nor wanted. 1 do not discover 
any thing in the genius, the will, or the circum- 
stances of Missouri, that demands my interposi- 
tion. The) are better able to judge for themselves 
than I am to judge fjr them IFlien public opinion 
ill any country asks for legislation, it always fol- 
lows in obedience to (he call. When the peculiar 
condition of a country requires a navigation act, or 
any other important regulation, then it is that le- 
gislators dream that they have anticipated public 



8 

necessity, and glory in their fancied wisdom. 
When the venerable John Adams, late President 
of the United States, was asked, who were the 
founders of the Revolution ? His reply was, re- 
plete with wisdom, substantially this: — The pub- 
lic opinion which might be traced as far back as 
the Puritans, who fled from England to Holland, 
to escape religious persecution and intolerance, 
and who came thence to America to be fiee. It 
was the opinion of women as well as men, which 
founded our present republican constitution. 

Sir, when circumstances imperiously demand 
legislation, then in the rear, follows as it ought 
to do, the act of the legislator. But, I have al- 
ready attained the limit of time v/hich I propos- 
ed. I meant no more than to pointat those chap- 
ters which I deem worth study on the present oc- 
casion, and which have not been mentioned by 
other gentlemen in this debate. My fifteen or 
twenty minutes are almost consumed, 1 have not 
time to add more than my earnest request, that, 
gentlemen will seriously consider in the first 
place, that chapter of human learning which 
treats of prejudices and sectional feelings, more 
especially the full history of the factions of the 
up toivn and dotvn town boys. 

Secondly. — That chapter which treats of the 
spirit of all law, of the necessity of adapting all 
legislation to the genius and will of a people, to 
their physical condition as to climate. Sec. and to 
the exact point of time for the exercise of legis- 
lation. 

And lastly, that cjhapter which treats of the 
best methods of bringing men to agree to differ, 
of the great benefits of such an agreement, that 
our glorious constitution is such an agreement, 
and above all, that part of the cha!pter, which 
teaches us to avoid the awful, the most horrible 
evils, which are treated of in the tremendous 
chapter of fluman War. Mr. Chairman, my a- 
lotted twenty minutes are consumed ; I have 
done. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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